The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-11-30

pose.
With his contracted ideas Of things,
newspaper was d useless expendi-
ture. Nothing of good could be seen
by him in all the newspapers published
in all the land.
"But, husband, you know that it is
natural for us to want to 60 to tho post
Office to enquire for letters. I have
enquired so often to no purpose that I
am ashamed to send to the post mas
ter for the few letters that we do get.
You know that there is in every one
feeling of modification on being told
that we have no mail-that nobony
has written to us, and that we have
not even a newspaper in the post Office.
Why, tell you, the postmaster almost
laughed at me the last time l enquir-
ed for mail. He never got up from his
seat to look for letters or papers. But,
before could fairly ask, he said,
Nothing to-day, ma'am,' and just
kept on reading his old book. We
ought to take newspaper. Our chill
dren often ask why we do not take
papers like neighbor Jones, and l feel
that we are as able and ambitious to
advance our children as he is. You
ought to have seen that same postmas-
ter jump up and hand Mrs. Jones her
paper"
When his wife appealed to his van>
ity and pride he could no longer resist
and so he subscribed for a newspaper,
but for which he never cared himself,
yet he had a commenduble ambition
for the intelligence and respectability
Of his children and ever after rejoiced
at the thought of giving them the
benefits of newspaper, while he real
lied much pleasure in receiving some
thing from the post Office every time
he went or sent for mail matter.
V.
JOHN WELLs's INFLUENCE IN EsTAB-
L1sHING sCHooLs-H1s NEIGH
BORIS HAD so LITTLE EDUCATION
THAT THEY DID NOT KNOW
HOW IGNORANT THEY WE'RE.
1t was through John Wells's infu.
ence, accompanied by heavy lift from
his pocket book, that the community
could boast of the best school house
in twenty miles of their county seat.
But he could not always succeed in
having his choice of teachers. When
the time came to elect that important
parsonage, John Wells and his neigh
bors were generally at variance.
With his neighbors it was not "who
shall we get, as best suited, to teach
the young idea how to shoot" but the
question with them was, "who can we
get to teach our children for the least
money ?" 1t was not that they we're
INDECENT far from it. They we're all,
with few exceptions, prosperous farm
ers. Neither did they possess an in
ordinate love of the "filthy lucre."
For any purchases they wished to
make, money was never lacking.
The simple fact was, they were ig-
norant and could not appreciate the
advantages or pleasures of an educa-
tion.
They didn't have education enough to
know how ignorant they were. They
never read the newspapers themselves,
and they we're not aware of their i'm
mense value to their children. They
never thought Of the fact that much
Of the little which their children learn
ed at one school term was forgotten
before the. beginning of the next
school year for the simple reason that
they had little or no opportunity to
practice reading or to acquire fond
ness for intellectual exercise. It is
true that there were in the house
few old books that few would read,
and as for the pretty book which the
book.agent left, and for which was
paid enough to get good newspaper
for two years, the children were forbid
den to touch it under the severest pen
alties.